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Asen Brothers Monument Sillhouette

The Asen Brothers Monument is one of the many striking sites in Veliko Turnovo.

It was sculpted by Krum Damianov.

The Asen Brothers monument celebrates the time in the Middle Ages when the Bulgarian state declared independence and the new capital was established in Veliko Turnovo.

Asen Brothers Monument Photo Facts

There are lots of approaches to photographing monuments, statues and buildings.

One thing they have in common is that they are durable and unmoving.

This makes it possible to photograph them in different lighting conditions at different times.

Of course, travel photography usual involves some kind of schedule – morning or afternoon.

Even careful planning cannot ensure optimum lighting conditions.

For this statue, I began by taken a number of standard views with frontal lighting.

However, as this is a three dimensional monument this approach was fairly limited.

Walking around the monument meant a change of lighting conditions.

For this shot I decided to emphasize the outline.

One extremely important point for a shot like this is to make sure you don’t look into the sun – no photograph is worth the risk.

There’s obviously a photographic risk of flare as well.

A lens hood is of little use if the light is in the picture.

One worthwhile check is to make sure that your lens and filters are clean.

Sometimes I find it worth removing the protective uv/skylight filter to get rid of unnecessary reflective surfaces.

I chose a fairly low viewpoint to emphasize the grandeur of the monument.

I used my 28-75mm Tamron SP zoom set at 44mm.

To help with the stability I mounted my Canon EOS 5D on my Benro Travel Angel Tripod.

As usual I shot in RAW to give me more leeway for post processing adjustments.

I aimed for an exposure which would get rid of all detail in the main statue.

The final result has some of the characteristics of classical monochrome photography with an emphasis on composition and tonal simplicity rather than colour

Hang Glider Over the Cliffs

To photograph this Hang Glider over the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria I had to climb the winding lanes behind the cliffs in Albena.

In summer there are many opportunities for action photos.

Hang Glider over the Cliffs Photo Facts:

From many points of view this is a straightforward shot.

The main problem was to get into a good position on the cliffs overlooking the Black Sea.

After all, one of the main factors in getting a good photograph is being in the right place at the right time.

I had seen the hang gliders from the beach and taken some ground to air shots but it was obvious that I would get better photos from a position much higher up.

This meant being in the right place so I had to walk up the winding track and finally scramble to a good position in the rocks.

As far as timing was concerned, the main point was to pick a time of day with good light quality – This shot depends on the colour contrast between the hang glider and the backdrop of the blue sky.

Obviously safety is an issue here and it’s vital to be at a good distance from the subject which means using a telephoto lens.

As there’s very limited room for moving nearer a zooms lens makes tight framing possible.

For this shot I used the long end of my 75-300 mm Zoom.

Another problem is exposure:

It’s easy to be fooled by the large expanse of blue sky.

This is a good reason to shoot in RAW for the maximum exposure latitude.

Using a long lens, hand held, is a recipe for camera shake so I used a fast shutter speed and made sure the IS (Image Stabilization) was set to on.

This combination ensured a sharp, tightly framed composition.